This invention relates generally to horticultural and agronomy moisture and consistency soil sampling tools and more particularly to a simple, low cost, hand held tool suitable for domestic potted plants and flower beds where moisture and other conditions of the soil are totally or partially humanly controlled. Watering of house plants and/or other sheltered plants by natural rain may be impossible or inadequate under particular situations and loss of moisture due to natural consumption by the plant, natural evaporation, or accelerated evaporation resulting from dehumidification or air conditioning mandates that the moisture content and soil condition be carefully and continuously monitored in order to maintain maximum plant health. Additionally, the moisture and soil conditions vary with depth of soil as a function of surrounding air, moisture absorptivity of the potting vessel, and density of the root system.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that periodic sampling without destruction of the plant's root system is essential to protect the plant's delicate root system and to maintain adequate soil conditions, particularly moisture. It is also essential that such a tool be easy to use and simple to clean.
The prior art reveals various types of penetrating sampling devices. U.S. Pat. No. 158,985 to Shultz discloses a pointed cotton auger having sides with teeth shaped therein which would sever plant roots upon entry, shred and uproot them upon exit, and leave without having recovered a soil sample. U.S. Pat. No. 230,121 to Frost for a grain sample, discloses a series of cavities which are filled simultaneously by grain upon the opening of a movable section of a peripheral wall. Such a device would be ineffectual in a relatively solid mass such as potting soil and would be rendered equally inoperative from clogging by soil grains and root fibers. Other devices, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,072,165; 2,544,728; 3,091,969; 3,597,980; and 4,252,200 display similar structural elements which would either disturb the root system or be suitably inoperative in a soil medium if carried out in the manner intended for the herein disclosed invention.
The present invention seeks to provide a simple, low cost, hand held moisture and consistency soil sampler suitable for a wide range of horticultural and agronomy sampling situations where entry and exit for sampling at various depths must be able to be achieved without disturbing existing root systems.
These objectives are accomplished in the present device by an elongated member having an insertable end with a plurality of serially located recessed pockets for collecting soil at various depths, a handle end for applying pressure to insert and manipulate the elongated member in the soil, and a shaped tip disposed to deflect root elements as the sampler is forced into the soil.